Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, and Damien Chazelle on Making First Man Soar

The director, cast, and people behind the film's true story offer details on Neil Armstrong's life.

It’s hard to believe there’s never been a big-screen telling of the first moon landing; it’s easier to believe that Damien Chazelle is the director who finally took on the challenge. Chazelle, the youngest person to take home the Oscar for Best Director – he won in 2017 for La La Land – sat down with Rotten Tomatoes’ Grae Drake to talk about bringing Neil Armstrong’s story to cinemas, and the challenges of telling a story that’s both deeply personal and epic in scale.

Also chatting for RT ahead of the release of First Man: Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy (who play Neil and Janet Armstrong); co-stars Lukas Haas, Patrick Fugit, and Olivia Hamilton; Bonnie White Baer, whose father Ed White died during the early stages of the Apollo program; Neil’s sons, Rick and Mark Armstrong; writer James R. Hansen, whose book First Man: The Life of Neil. A Armstrong the movie is based on; and screenwriter Josh Singer. Combined, they paint a picture of the inspiring man at the center of the new movie, and the pressure the filmmakers faced to do him justice.